Archive for May, 2007

Ok, I know it’s supposed to be chef salad, meaning the cook puts all of one meal into a salad or some such connotation, but since the “chef” is the “chief” of the kitchen, I thought a change in spelling was due. And upon finishing such a giant salad, I felt as important (and stuffed) as the chief of a tribe.

I could also apply a French title… something like “Composed Salad with….” and just list all the ingredients. It would certainly be the way to name it, should you be able to translate into French, and want to impress your friends.

Salad Meats

• Boar’s Head Parmesan Ham
• Provolone Cheese
• Genoa Salami

Cut up the deli ingredients into strips, and reserve.

Salad Topping

• Artichoke Hearts
• Avocado slices
• Cherry Tomatoes (or smaller “grape” tomatoes, that’s what I used)
• Lemon Zest

Salad Topping Dressing

• Honey
• Juice of one lemon
• Salt, pepper

Salad Base

• Red-leaf lettuce
• Boston Lettuce

Salad Base Dressing

• Gulden’s Mustard
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt

First, salt the tomatoes, and mix the topping ingredients with the dressing while you prepare the rest of the salad. Mix the lettuces with the dressing before service. “Compose” the salad by starting on a large dinner plate with the lettuces, follow with the deli ingredients, and then finish with the vegetables on top, mixing the extra dressing on top of the salad.

I finished off my salad with some crispy fried onions that I spied at the grocery. They were sweet and flavorful (garlic flavored). Garlic slices with bacon would have also been great.

I served the salad with a generous dinner roll procured from Cavanna Pasta.

Should every dinner have a dessert? I know I ought not be eating it, but does it belong in our culture of eating?

When I went to college in Rochester (NY), they had a couple of what I’d describe as dessert shops, these places—cafés perhaps—that only sold dessert, tea, and coffee.

You could go there on a date, just hang out, or stop by after a meal at home, or another out.

Time between the meal and the dessert makes sense.

The Richmond-area now has a place called the Desserterie on the southside. I’ll have to try it out.

I learned more about the venture from Style Weekly.

Tonight I made dinner, and cooked shrimp. I hardly ever cook shrimp.

Polenta

I like polenta; mushy as a mush, or fried up into little cakes. I used tonight an “instant” polenta with 1/3 chicken stock, 2/3 water, plus salt. It’s easy to make. Boil the liquids, add the polenta, and stir like mad. Follow the proportions on your box.

Next, I added parmesan cheese. I bought some pre-shredded at the gourmet store, $8 worth. I unfortunately dumped the whole bucket in, by mistake. Normally, I’d add $4 worth, I guess.

Next, pour it out (it’s been cooking for no more than 5 minutes) on to a board, half-sheet pan, or glass baking dish, to cool. Once cool, you can cut the polenta into shapes (rounds are nice), and pan-fry them in olive oil when you’re ready to eat.

Shrimp

I got my hands on some excellent shrimp. Wash, devein, and “marinate” in your best extra-virgin olive oil and crushed garlic for 30-40 minutes. Get a hot pan, and cook the shrimp through. After the cooking begins, add more sliced garlic and red pepper-flakes. Add salt, and a dash of sweet white wine. Move to the plate, with polenta.

Asparagus

I grilled the asparagus in a pan alongside the polenta. I added salt upon plating.

Sauce

I cheated here. I wanted a little tomato sauce for the polenta and shrimp. I used the Bartoli I had left-over from the pizza making extravaganza several nights before. It was a good choice.

I topped everything with some super premium EVOO before plating. It’s the kind of stuff with oil must at the bottom of the bottle.

It all turned out well.

There are many kinds of pizza. I put them into three categories:

• Italian American pizza (red sauce, cheese, any number of toppings)
• California Pizzas (Wolfgang-Puck inspired toppings with odd-ball ingredients, different flavors)
• Rustic, homemade pizzas (anything not perfectly round)

I know, this is overly simplistic. There are of course thin-crusts, Neopolitan-style, deep-dish, etc., but who really cares? The reason I came up with my three variations is because they are for me, “different moods.” Sometimes I’m hungry for a BBQ chicken pizza, but not for a Papa John’s style pie. Sometimes, I’m open to something homemade I make at home… and other times, the good old-fashioned pizzeria style is what I’m after. Yes—no matter what I put on my own—it goes into category three. I recently had the opportunity to make some pizza, and came up with a simple tomato sauce with cheese, and a spicy Italian mushroom.

Pizza Dough

I make my own dough. I sometimes come up with something great, sometimes not. I hardly ever follow a recipe. This time around, I used 50% whole wheat flour, and 50% all purpose. I added a lot of yeast, and brown sugar. It rose fast. I also add warm water, olive oil and salt, for flavor.

This was a wet dough, and it was better for being wet… easier to handle, stretch, and form. I didn’t worry about a perfect round shape. With my patience, I’m incapable of doing that.

Sauce

I impregnated each stretched dough with raw garlic slivers, extra-virgin olive oil, and a smearing of Bartoli organic tomato sauce with basil. It’s a rather thick and chunky sauce, very rich in flavor.

Variations

For the first pizza, I topped it with black pepper and Kraft pre-shredded mozzarella cheese. I know, pre-shredded cheese and supermarket sauce isn’t screaming gourmet. But it was pretty good, I must say.

For the second, I spiced things up with Italian seasoning (basil, oregano, rosemary) and red pepper flakes. I topped the pizza with the same cheese, then several slices of freshly-cut mushrooms.

Both got baked on a pizza stone with my oven set to 550 degrees. It’s a good idea to heat things up way in advance for a good crust.

I pulled them out when the cheese started to brown a bit. These pizzas, without a lot of messy toppings, were a breeze to cut with the pizza cutter.

I know, that’s a particularly simple English title for something that is likely beautiful in Italian. I had this dish tonight at Chianti, in Richmond’s west-end. It was a special.

It was good, but it could have been much better.

The cooking technique, and specifically, the sauce(s) are what I want to think about (and prepare someday, soon).

Basically, you take filet mignon, and stuff it with garlic. That’s good.

You braise it, I’m guessing, in some red wine. But the luxe part is the wine sauce, that I am guessing is made separately. It’s punchy, fruit-red wine sauce, sticky, and the appearance of that red wine sauce against the medium-rare meat was so interesting. Visually, but also on the tongue.

I have a lot to learn (and invent) in the area of sauces. Simple preparations of meat and fish can be greatly enhanced with some complex sauces. I have impressed some with my saucing, but I’m really just an amateur. Learning more about fruit and vegetable-based sauces would be a good (and healthy) start.